Fylde coast backgammon business is on a roll

Guy Haslam with one of his Bone Club backgammon sets

Bone Club, founded by designer and backgammon enthusiast, Guy Haslam, 45, started out as a community for backgammon players in the area 10 years ago.

But Guy, who studied furniture design and antique restoration, spotted a gap in the market for a championship sized backgammon board at an affordable price.

Using his sculpture and carpentry skills, he began designing and making the collection of competition size boards, with the first sold in 2016. What started out as a passion project soon became a business with more than 200 boards sold worldwide and a further 100 due before the close of 2018.

Drum and Bass musician Goldie, who is a fan of backgammon

In September, the Bone Club backgammon board was shortlisted for a UK Backgammon Federation award for ‘best design’.

International news giant Bloomberg bought six boards for its summer party and the Malaysian royal family has a bespoke Bone Club board.

More recently, drum and bass master and DJ Goldie joined the Bone Club fold.

He is a huge fan of backgammon and has waxed lyrical about his Bone Club board to his 90,000 Instagram followers, pitching himself against Hollywood actor Jason Statham for a game.

Guy Haslam and current Backgammon World Champion , Akiko Yazawa

Guy Haslam said: “I started out the Bone Club community as a way to reconnect with family and friends ten years ago and I never imagined it would take the path that it has today.

“We’ve ambitions to create new products, ranging from Carbon Fibre backgammon boards to WIFI backgammon boards, and are in talks with a US distributor to help take Bone Club Stateside.

“And with the likes of Goldie – who I’m still waiting to take up my challenge of a game – and other high profile players all talking about the game, I’m confident that we’ll see more young players coming through the ranks and making their own mark on backgammon.”

Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world with examples being found in Mesopotamia dated at 5,000 years old.

A game of strategy and luck, it involves using two dice to move 15 pieces around a board of 28 triangles with the winner being the first person to get all their pieces safely off the board..